Will Days of Our Lives' Gay Storyline Reignite with Freddie Smith’s Return?

At long last, Sonny Kiriakis has come home.

That home, of course, is on the long-running NBC drama, Days of Our Lives, where Sonny (played by Freddie Smith) suddenly appeared at the end of yesterday's episode.

After the murder of Will Horton last October and last year's departure by Smith, our last gay standing on the 50-year old soap was hunky Paul Narita (Christopher Sean), who unfortunately was quickly relegated to mostly background status.

Will Sonny's return put a gay storyline back on the front burner (and also energize the show, which has been at a creative low for months)? Might Sonny and Paul, who were each other's first loves, get that old romance to spark to life now that Will is out of the picture?

On the romance front, Smith told Out from the Days set recently that Sonny's heart may not be ready to jump into a romantic relationship just yet. "After losing the part of him that he loved the most, I think that definitely leaves a dark spot in his heart and he's going to be coping with that and dealing with that."

That said, the actor added that Sonny and Paul are "great friends and you always have a piece of your heart with your first love. I definitely think there's always going to be chemistry and a blossoming friendship. Who knows? Who knows what will happen?"

Smith also revealed that what brings Sonny back to Salem is not Paul, but drama brewing in the Kiriakis family. "Uncle Vic [John Aniston] is in a jam with Maggie [Suzanne Rogers] and everything going on with Deimos [Vincent Irizarry] and his shenanigans, so Sonny comes in to step in and save the day a little bit and pay back everything that his uncle has done for him."

While we know Sonny has been running Uncle Vic's club in Paris, what's the chance Sonny may be coming back with some secrets of his own from his experiences there? Smith would only say, coyly, "If you're gone in a new place, doing new things, experiences may or may not happen."

As to whether Sonny and Paul have been in touch during Sonny's absence, Sean has his thoughts. "I believe they've been out of touch," the actor shared. "Sonny needed that space, Paul understood that and as much as he missed him and not being able to be there for him, there's still that underlying respect."

Like those Ponny shippers, Sean is hopeful for the couple to get back together. "It's always hard to not think about your first true love and when you finally understand love, as Paul does, I think he's hoping for it."

However, Smith said there's also healing to be done from the love triangle drama that happened before Will's death. "They're not fully healed either, so there's a lot of that going on. They're healing their friendship and trust first before they can move forward. How do you find a way to make something work with so much baggage?"

Smith said fans should expect to see a different, more grown up Sonny when he returns to the canvas. "When he first appeared in Salem he was definitely maybe 20, 21 and now he's closer to the 30 range, so a lot can change and I think he's taken a more professional stand with the different businesses."

After being away from the show for awhile, however, it didn't take long for Smith to feel at home again. "It was a little weird for about 15 minutes and then all of a sudden it felt like I never missed a day, it felt like a long weekend."

Now that Sonny has returned, can the show also bring back sexy Derrick [Spencer Neville] and get another gay love triangle to heat things up? Please?

Days of Our Lives airs weekdays on NBC. Check local listings for the air time in your area.